As of now, the market has reversed into a short pre-budget rally that may last for 3-4 days

The market, which was sideways for a major part of the trading session, witnessed a smart recovery from the lows to close in the positive for the second day in a row. As of now, the market has reversed into a short pre-budget rally that may last for three-four days. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 53.89 crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 1022:495.

The domestic market opened almost unchanged from its previous close on weak cues from the Asian markets which were mostly lower in morning trade. Markets in the US were closed on Monday for a local holiday.

The Nifty opened two points up at 5,900 and the Sensex resumed trade at 19,524, a gain of 23 points over its previous close. The benchmarks witnessed a high degree of volatility in subsequent trade, moving in and out of the red in the morning session.

The Telecom Commission, on Monday approved provision for companies holding internet services licences with spectrum to provide phone call service by paying additional fee of Rs1,658 crore each. The announcement led telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular were trading lower today.

Selling in metals, capital goods, banking stocks pushed the market into the negative in noon trade. The lower opening of the European indices on a fall in auto sales in the region also added to the woes of domestic investors.

The benchmarks slipped to their lows at around 1.30pm with the Nifty down to 5,883 and the Sensex falling to 19,457. The market witnessed a splendid recovery from the lows with the indices emerging into the green.

Buying in realty, IT, healthcare and power sectors helped the market hit its high in the last half hour. At this point the Nifty went up to 5,940 and the Sensex rose to 19,635.

The market closed near the high-point of the day on across-the-board buying as investors brushed aside concerns relating to the budget. The Nifty gained 42 points (0.70%) to 5,940 and the Sensex closed the session 135 points (0.69%) higher at 19,636.

The broader indices outperformed the Sensex today, as the BSE Mid-cap index gained 1.12% and the BSE Small-cap index climbed 0.94%.

All the sectoral indices were in the positive; the top gainers were BSE Realty (up 1.90%); BSE IT (up 1.66%); BSE Healthcare (up 1.38%); BSE Power (up 1.16%) and BSE TECk (up 1.10%).

Twenty two of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The chief gainers were ONGC (up 4.03%); Bajaj Auto (up 2.36%); Maruti Suzuki (up 2.19%); BHEL (up 2%) and Cipla (up 1.96%). The major losers were Bharti Airtel (down 1.94%); GAIL (down 1.37%); Hero MotoCorp (down 1.37%); Coal India (down 1.35%) and Jindal Steel (down 0.79%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Eicher Motors (up 6.26%) and IFCI (up 5.52%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were— Bharti Airtel (down 1.94%) and Zee Entertainment (down 1.67%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Thakral Services (up 19.99%) and Jindal Photo (up 19.97%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were— Gallantt Metal (down 12.88%) and Chromatic India (down 10%).

Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, 42 stocks settled in the positive. The major gainers were ONGC (up 4.33%); DLF (up 3.70%); ACC (up 3.22%); Ranbaxy (up 2.99%) and UltraTech Cement (up 2.58%). The key losers were Bharti Airtel (down 1.99%); GAIL (down 1.51%); Hero MotoCorp (down 1.50%); Coal India (down 1.37%) and Jindal Steel (down 0.95%).

Markets across Asia settled mostly down in the absence of fresh triggers. Speculations that Chinese policymakers will initiate new limits to tame real estate prices also weighed on the sentiments.

The Shanghai Composite tanked 1.60%; the Hang Seng dropped 1.02%; Jakarta Composite fell 0.22%; the KLSE Composite contracted 0.36% and the Nikkei 225 lost 0.31%. On the other hand, the Straits Times gained 0.23%; the Seoul Composite rose 0.20% and the Taiwan Weighted settled 0.22% higher.

At the time of writing, the key European indices pared early losses and were in the positive with gains between 0.37% and 0.98%. At the same time, the US market futures were in the green, indicating a positive opening for US stocks. 

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares totalling Rs142.92 crore on Monday while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of stocks amounting to Rs110.55 crore.

 After the recent price hike, Maruti Suzuki has ruled out price hike in the near term, and expects the sales growth of about 6% in the current financial year ending next month. The stock rose 1.35% to close at Rs 1,499.80 on the NSE.

NHC Foods is planning to raise Rs25 crore through qualified institutional placements (QIPs) in March 2013, which it would utilize this fund to meet the working requirement for its proposed expansion plans. NHC Foods down 7.28% to close at Rs40.75 on the BSE.